Pet Punter

Posts Tagged ‘turtle’

Never try to empty the tank by sucking water through a length of rubber tubing. If you want to use a siphoning method, fill the tube with tap water and place one end in the tank, keeping your finger in place over the other, before releasing this and triggering the flow into a bucket. Alternatively, you can obtain a special aquatic siphon for this purpose. Rinse the cartridge of the power filters in the tap water as well, squeezing the foam out to remove the debris which will have been sucked in here. In the case of a small tank, you may be able to simply to tip the water straight down a drain.

Never use the kitchen sink for this purpose because of the risk of introducing harmful bacteria. When filing the tank again, check the water temperature before allowing the turtles back into the tank. In the summer it will be beneficial, as they grow bigger to allow turtles outside on warm days. Rocks for basking purposes should again be included in an outdoor tank. Allow the turtles into an outdoor pond but the turtle should always be brought inside at night.

Amboina Box Turtle: Originating from south-east Asia, the Amboina box turtle has yellow stripes extending on the sides of its face. The shell is blackish and paler on the underside, with two flaps here that enable these reptiles to seal themselves into the shell entirely if danger threatens. Once they are used to being picked up, however, they will stop behaving in this way. These turtles will spend considerable periods of time on land as well as in water, and this should be reflected in their accommodation set-up.

North American Turtles: The North American box turtle can be recognized by its brown coloration. It spends much of its time on land, although there are a number of more aquatic turtles in parts of North America, where they are bred on turtle farms. Among those that are quite regularly available as hatchlings are the painted turtles. These are four distinctive forms. The southern is the most distinctive, with a bright orange stripe running down across the centre of the top of its shell. The western can be recognized markings here , and the mottled coloration on the underside of the shell. The color of the plastron also serves to separate the other two types of painted turtle. The midland has a dark stripe running down the centre of the shell. This same area is colored clear yellow in the case of the eastern.  These turtles will all require a housing set-up which provides swimming water and an adequate land area, where they can bask and move around. Chrysemys turtles may grow up to 25cm. Map turtles are so-called because, in the case of hatchlings especially, the lines on their shells look like the contours on the map, although the lines may fade with age. Some types of map turtle also have knobbly tops to their shells, so they are often referred to as sawback turtles. Map turtles need similar housing to painted turtles – a reasonable amount of land and water. Mature females can grow to 23 cm – twice the size of their mates.

Soft-Shelled Turtles: Turtles vary quite widely in their requirements. Some, notably soft-shelled turtles are highly aquatic by nature, spending virtually their whole lives in water. This behavior needs to be reflected in the design of their enclosure. They are also very territorial and aggressive, and even if you acquire two hatchlings at the same time then, almost inevitably as time passes, one will start to grow at a faster rate, and will start to bully its companion. Fights can often prove to be fatal because these leathery-shelled turtles are very susceptible to fungal infections if they sustain damage to their bodies. They are more aggressive than other turtles and are carnivorous in their feeding habits. Adults will frequently reach more than 30 cm in long.

Siamese Temple Turtle: Much more placid by nature is the Siamese temple turtle which is an attractive, gentle Asiatic species. It is back in color, with large, pale yellow spots. These turtles are also aquatic by nature, especially as hatchlings. They are relatively small in size, even when adult, attaining a shell length of approximately 20 cm. Their accommodation should incorporate a basking area where they can come out on to land, even though they are largely aquatic. Feedings is quite straightforward. As Siamese temple turtles grow larger, it is possible to distinguish the sexes. Males have larger, chunkier heads than females, with the space from the base of the tail to the ano-genital opening being longer than in the female.